During November, we celebrated “Women’s Entrepreneurship Day.” Here are several pieces of advice for growing businesses from successful women entrepreneurs.

Starting a small business is not easy. And starting a small business as a woman can be even tougher. Thankfully, “women-owned firms have increased as a share of total businesses over the years,” according to the Small Business Administration. However, “their size still remains smaller than national averages,” the SBA noted, and the 7.8 million women-owned firms averaged only US$130,000 in receipts in 2007, the most recent year for which data was available. Credit.com spoke with a handful of seasoned female entrepreneurs for advice on running a firm from a business perspective. Here’s what they told us:

It was midnight on a Saturday when my phone rang. It was one of my business partners, Barnabas Carrega. After the previous 72 hours—which were beyond grueling—I didn’t really feel like talking to anyone.

That Thursday, we decided to pull the plug on our first promotional event set to take place during the Sony Open in Miami, Florida, USA. The event we had created failed us in several ways: not enough people had RSVP’d; no high-profile celebrities were confirmed to appear; and most of the budget was allocated for PR. Reluctant and beyond tired, I picked up the phone anyway … and I froze in my tracks. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing:

“Nadal and Djokovic’s publicist called and wants them, respectively the number one and number two tennis players in the world, to participate in our event.”

“You can’t be serious,” I replied. Hadn’t we failed on Thursday night?

Jim Collins. When we hear his name we show our respect. He has written many best-selling and influential business books including Built to Last, Good to Great and Great by Choice. I love Jim’s books. I also have embraced his plea for those who truly want to succeed: Confront the brutal facts!

The reality is the majority of entrepreneurs around the world fail. But I know what you are thinking: That doesn’t apply to me because my company is successful. You are right, and my goal is to keep you that way for the long-term. You do that by becoming qualified – but what does that mean?

My introduction to meditation was one of the most important moments in my life. I learned about a technique called “so-hum” by reading Deepak Chopra’s book “The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire.” I was quickly hooked on the simple process of breathing and chanting.

Before long, I had signed up for a 10-day silent meditation retreat. Meditation allows me to do the impossible: to detach from my identity and be reborn on a daily basis. Until I started to meditate, I had no idea how much our sense of identity leads to stressful situations in our professional lives. We often let expectations rule our reality, focusing on the external rather than the internal. We become obsessed with cause rather than effect.

I now focus less on business achievements and instead define success as contribution of self — a shift from “What’s in it for me?” to “How can I help?” Internal reflection can help anyone achieve fulfillment daily.

For some reason, I didn’t take it well. More precisely, I actually sailed through my birthday without a problem. Oh, this isn’t so bad, I thought to myself. Then, two months later, I got really depressed. I just hadn’t achieved what I thought I would by this age. After a few years of triple-digit growth, my agency was stumbling. I was also exhausted, deep into renovating a tiny house in a suburb of Connecticut. When I stepped back to look at my life, it just wasn’t the image I had in mind ten years ago. And yet, here I was.